ok so.. i'm noticing they are really cracking down on idling laws. (in pa anyway)

i dont stay out overnight (yet but soon with in a year). i do stuff with drop and hooks or live loads. i just started out and i'm trying to pinch every penny and save as much fuel as i can. my normal wait is 1-4 hours for live loads everything else is drop and hook. but, with the heat/cold i really do not want to run the truck. my dog goes with me so i have to be fair of course.

anyway, i called some APU people.i really like the domatic apu but.. at the price of $10500 and i have to add my own power source its not worth it to me.

i called my local TK dealer and spoke to them. i got a price of $10300 for everything installed. thtas with the artic package. hell for $95 does it realy matter? now my truck must have had a APU or something on there at one time. i have the vent in the bottom of my bunk.

monday i will call the local rigmaster dealer and see what they have to offer.

i was also thinking about going another route. 2000 watt generator (a honda/yamaha/kipor), get a custom box made up to some of them chassis grabber brackets, with a portable ac unit inside the cab. i found a portable AC unit today that was 7000 btus, at a price of $229.what i like about it is that its small enough that i can put it in one of the compartments of my sleeper in my columbia. the only thing thats killing me right now is how do i vent this thing?

anyway, the way i figure it.. to do the do-it-yourself apu it'll cost 2k the most. or am i wasting my time? any input would be great. what do you guys do/use?

 

Do the math and decide when the right time to spend the money.
idling costs you a gallon per hour in the big engine.
get the fuel burn for your targeted solutions, some of them can burn up to 1/2 gallon at full load.

Work out the difference and whether that is sufficient payback.

I suspect that you'll find that you need to be sleeping in the truck several nights a week before the savings will reasonably pay for the expense.

Be sure to consider the effect of an idling ticket on your "savings" of waiting.

I would avoid making up your own system unless you know what you are doing.
The turn key systems have already done the experimenting, you are paying for their knowledge and warranty, as well as the equipment.
You lose $2000 straight up if you screw up that generator in your attempt.

 

That's old technology LBF...new engines burn half a gallon per hour.

 

i heard that a cat actually burns more then a gallon an hour. the TK dealer told me the tripac burns half a gallon a night.. not sure how true that is. i decided i'm doing a tripac but in a few months. need to clean up some credit cards before i go for the financing.

 

I am in no way an O/O, but I have researched the topic a lot. I personally wouldn't want a traditional APU. I personally would look more in the direction of a diesel generator, rv rooftop ac, and bunk heater.

 

crb, i was orginally looking at a t600 with a studio sleeper and that was my intentions. but with a columbia i dont like the way it looks.

 

If you are going that route then you want the A/C wired up for shore power so that you can plug it in.

CRB, if you proposing a diesel generator then why would you still want a bunk heater? Why not just run the generator and use a space heater?

 

the heater was what sealed it for me with a do-it-yourself apu and a traditional apu. my dog goes with me (65 lb boxer) and i dont want her to knock it over.. thats a hell of an alarm clock

 

I like the bunk heater better than a space heater takes up less space, more convienant, and burns way less fuel than running generator. Why do a space heater when you could buy a rv ac with a heat strip. I still like bunk heater personally. There are quite a few th salvage yards where you can pickup a rv style ac at a discount. Yes I would set it up to use shore power also.

The part I like about my setup is its not proprietary any rv shop will have parts or can work on ac unit. The generator can easily be swapped out if you have any problems. I would set the generator up to keep batteries charged also. The rooftop ac will cool the truck cooler I believe. I have heard lots of complaints about traditional apus especially that they do not cool well. I don't believe the gallon per ten hours mantra the apu companies spew either. Has anybody tracked fuel consumption?

I would run a separate fuel tank for generator and bunk heater so i can run off road fuel unit or write off the tax.
I would consider a propane generator depending on fuel consumption.

I am in no way an expert these are my opinions.

 

Good call. I've had mostly TriPac's on the company trucks I've driven, and so far have had only one problem in two years amongst five units (fan motor died on this one). They're also pretty quiet, compared to others.